Copacabana

We took a taxi from our hostel up to the Cementerio area of La Paz, only to find that we had hit a lull in the day and none of the buses to Copacabana left for another hour and a half. I was a bit grumpy as we had only missed the last bus by a few minutes, but Reuben was determinedly cheerful and led us to find empanadas and cinnamon flavoured sorbet from the stalls around the bus stands. The fact that it was cinnamon came as a surprise as given the bright pink we had thought it might be raspberry or strawberry!

Our bus was late leaving and then took a random route through the marketplace – literally, we passed by stalls less than a metre from the side of the bus! It looked like it was actually only a pedestrian route but we went down it anyway. Once we finally left town, we headed up to Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world. At the little town of Taquina, all the passengers got off the boat and headed to buy tickets for a little passenger boat. While we crossed the lake in this boat, our bus drove over on a barge and met us on the other side. It all seemed pretty straightforward although I have read online about passengers who missed the vital step of taking a little boat and instead watched as their bus sailed away, thinking it would come back!

Bus on barge

We arrived in Copacabana at dusk, but were able to find our hotel and book a boat for the next day’s adventure to Isla del Sol.

Karen on boat - a bit cold as I neglected to bring a top layer!

Isla del Sol is located on Lake Titicaca. It is an ancient island with Inca ruins on it. We left Copacabana around 8.30 in the morning, arriving at Cha’llapampa at the north end of the island around 11.

Looking down

After a quick look around the museum, we hiked up to see Inca ruins.

Reuben at the ruins

We had the option of taking the boat to the south end of the island, but decided to walk instead. It was about a four hour walk climbing along the ridge line to the south end, and given that the lake was already at such a high elevation, the walk was pretty taxing. On the plus side, hardly anyone was doing the walk, so we had beautiful views and solitude in a stunning location.

Views from the top

More ruins for Reuben

When we got to Yumani we saw lots of tourists doing the steep walk up the hill – it was great to be walking half an hour downhill instead!

On our last day in Copacabana we enjoyed strolling down to the lake, browsing the shops and checking out the Cathedral before taking a bus to our next country – Peru.

I’ve just caught up with your travels. The photos are amazing. You are certainly visiting some very exciting locations. I love reading about places that I have never even heard of. Much love to you both.